Palestinian group, Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, has announced the start of military the operation Al-Aqsa Flood against Israel. Thousands of rockets have been fired from the blockaded enclave towards the occupied territories as far away as Tel Aviv, killing over 1,200 Israelis, including both military and settlers. More than 14,500 Palestinians have been so far killed in an exchange of fire between the two sides.
Fireworks streak across the sky as Palestinian prisoners that were released from the Israeli Ofer military facility are paraded in Beitunia, in the occupied West Bank, on Friday.
The Israeli authorities violate the agreement on the release of Palestinian prisoners by not following the principle saying that the first prisoners to be released must be the ones who spent in detention the longest, says Qadura Fares, head of the Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs.
“There are indications of a possible crisis regarding the list of names announced by Israel due to Israel’s failure to adhere to the agreed-upon criterion of seniority in the deal,” Fares stated, according to CNN.
Egypt announced on Saturday it had received positive signals from all parties over a possible extension of the temporary Gaza truce for one or two days.
Diaa Rashwan, the head of Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS), said in a statement that the country was holding extensive talks with all parties to reach an agreement over extending the four-day truce, which “means the release of more detainees in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails”.
Hamas said it has begun the handover of the second batch of hostages to the Red Cross in Gaza.
The group added 14 Israelis were being handed over to the organisation on Saturday.
“The Izz al-dine al-Qassam Brigades have begun handing the second group of Israeli prisoners over to the Red Cross in (the southern city of) Khan Yunis. There are 14 of them,” a source told AFP, referring to the armed wing of Hamas.
The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas says the resistance and its military leaders are in “good condition” after 48 days of Israeli onslaught against the Gaza Strip, stressing that the occupying regime was unable to achieve any of its goals.
Khaled Meshaal, head of Hamas’ office in the diaspora, made the remarks on Saturday, a day after a four-day truce was implemented in the besieged enclave.
“A number of fighters and leaders of the resistance and their relatives were martyred in the Gaza war, but they are not from the front line. However, the resistance’s condition is good and its weapons, tunnel, and leaders are safe,” Meshaal stated.
“The Zionist enemy (in the Gaza war) was unable to achieve any of its goals and despite moving some people from northern Gaza, the majority of Palestinian citizens remained in their areas,” he added.
The senior Hamas official further expressed hope that the war in Gaza would not prolong, emphasizing that the resistance movement has prepared itself for “a long-term war.”
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Association, 42 Palestinian prisoners will be released on Saturday.
Israeli authorities informed the association earlier today, but did not give a specific time.
The list of prisoners to be released includes 18 women and 24 minors.
The release will happen via Ofer prison, just outside Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Red Crescent announced on Saturday that they received 196 trucks of aid through the Rafah crossing on Friday.
The trucks contained medical supplies and medicine, as well as hospital beds, food and water.
Experts maintain that the aid that has entered Gaza still does not meet the significant needs, and is below the levels of aid entering Gaza before the start of the war on 7 October.
Hostages released by Hamas on Friday as part of a temporary truce deal have been described as being “in good medical condition”, according to Israeli media.
The Schneider Children’s Medical Center, which is treating some of the freed hostages, issued a statement early on Saturday saying that the our women and four children were in a good state.
The other five women who were freed, are being treated at the Wolfson Medical Center, who said that they were ‘stable’ and have been ‘embraced by their families’.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it is “extremely concerned” about the safety of patients and staff remaining at Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital and that it is unable to confirm the wellbeing of the facility’s director and three other medical workers arrested by Israeli forces.
While most patients and staff were evacuated from al-Shifa, Gaza’s largest medical facility, last week, about 100 people are estimated to still be at the facility.
The WHO announced that it participated in a “high-risk mission” on Wednesday, in coordination with the Palestine Red Crescent Society, to transfer 151 people from the hospital.
The UN health agency said the evacuation took 20 hours, including six hours at a checkpoint where the team and patients were screened by the Israeli military – despite an initial agreement to only screen participants at the hospital.
“WHO is extremely concerned about the safety of the estimated 100 patients and health workers remaining at al-Shifa. Due to the limited time that the mission members were able to spend in the hospital and the urgency of moving the most critical, it was difficult to determine exactly how many remain,” the WHO said in a statement on Friday.
“Two of the six detained health workers have reportedly been released. We do not have information about the wellbeing of the four remaining health staff, including the director of al-Shifa Hospital. WHO calls for their legal and human rights to be fully observed during their detention.”
Israel’s military confirmed on Thursday that al-Shifa director Muhammad Abu Salmiya had been held for questioning due to “evidence showing that [al-]Shifa Hospital, under his direct management, served as a Hamas command and control centre”.
Hamas and hospital officials have denied Israeli claims that the hospital has been used to conduct military operations.
Since the announcement of the four-day truce between Israel and Hamas earlier this week, there has been a lot of discussion about whether the deal could be extended.
United States President Joe Biden was asked about the possibly of such an extension on Friday as he briefed reporters about the diplomatic efforts that led to the release of 24 Hamas captives from Gaza.
“I think the chances are real,” Biden said at a press conference.
Biden declined to speculate on how long Israel’s war against Hamas might last, adding that eliminating the group was a legitimate but difficult mission.
The Mossad and the Israel Defense Forces have received the second list of Israeli hostages due to be released on Saturday as part of the framework agreed with Hamas, the office of Israel’s prime minister wrote in a statement on Friday.
Security officials are reviewing the list of names, the statement read.
Israel’s Hostage Coordinator Brig. Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch has given the information to the families of the hostages, the statement added.
The list will not be released to the public until the hostages are safely in Israeli hands.
Palestinians released from Israeli prisons were met with celebrations on Friday evening as they returned to their hometowns and villages in Jerusalem and the West Bank.
In videos obtained by CNN, the released prisoners can be seen paraded through the streets, carried on people’s shoulders as crowds wave the Palestinian flag, as well as that of Hamas.
Thirty-nine people were released Friday under the deal between Israel and Hamas, which also saw the release of 24 hostages from Gaza, and the start of a four-day truce in the enclave.
Twenty-two women were among those released, as well as two girls. Fifteen teenage boys up to the age of 18 were also released — the youngest aged 14.
The first group of hostages released Friday by Hamas under a deal with Israel included 13 Israeli women and children, 10 Thai citizens and one Filipino citizen.
Here is what we know about the freed Israelis:
Yafa Adar, 85: Adar is a founder of the Nir Oz kibbutz and is the oldest person to be taken hostage on October 7. Her eldest grandson was also abducted, and is still held hostage, said a Nir Oz spokesperson.
Margalit Moses, 77: The mother of three and grandmother of 10 is a retired biology teacher. She is also a cancer survivor who has diabetes, “fibromyalgia, and takes many additional medications”, said the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in Israel.
Hana Katzir, 76: She is also a member of Kibbutz Nir Oz and the wife of the late Rami Katzir, 79, who was killed in their home. Her son Elad was also kidnapped and is still in Gaza.
Adina Moshe, 72: The retired educator and Nir Oz resident is a mother of four and grandmother of 12. Her husband David (Sa’id) Moshe was killed in their home on October 7.
Ohad Munder, 9: The kibbutz spokesperson for Nir Oz said Munder “came to Nir Oz to visit family” when he was abducted alongside family members.
Doron Katz Asher, 34, Raz Asher, 4, Aviv Asher, 2: Doron visited Nir Oz with her family and was kidnapped with her two daughters, Aviv and Raz, as well as other family members.
Eleven foreign nationals — 10 men and one woman — freed by Hamas in Gaza are spending the night at Shamir-Assaf HaRofeh Medical Center, according to the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
The medical center is located in the Israeli town of Beer Yaakov, southeast of Tel Aviv,
The 10 Thai citizens and one Filipino citizen will remain at the hospital until medical examinations are complete, the ministry said in a statement.
“An initial examination suggests [the freed hostages] seem well,” Dr. Osnat Levtzion Korach, the medical center’s director general said in a video statement.
“They are very glad to be somewhere safe and are thankful for the treatment and attention,” he added.
“We’re very glad and proud to take a part in this effort,” the doctor continued.
Hamas has released a video showing several of the 24 freed hostages being handed over to Red Cross officials inside Gaza on Friday.
The video, which consists of a series of edited clips and runs just under two minutes in length, was released on the social media platforms of the Al Qassam Brigades, the Hamas military wing.
Apart from a few seconds at the start of the video, there is no audio on any of the clips.
After a brief opening shot of several Red Cross vehicles apparently arriving at a handover point inside Gaza, the video shows six of the foreign nationals released Friday getting out of two unmarked white SUVs, before being escorted by Red Cross officials toward Red Cross vehicles.
The video then has a series of clips showing several of the female Israeli hostages, along with one of the children, also being transferred from unmarked white SUVs into the back of Red Cross vehicles.
Many of the clips show a heavy presence of Hamas gunmen, wearing black balaclavas and green bandanas, escorting the hostages at the handover point.
Some of the clips show a large number of people surrounding the handover, many filming it on their phones.
It was not immediately clear if the handovers shown on the video were all carried out at the same location.
It appears as though the handovers were carried out in the mid to late afternoon.
Hailing the release of Israeli hostages today, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he remains committed to securing the release of all those still held in Gaza.
“I emphasize to you, the families, and to you, the citizens of Israel: We are committed to returning all our hostages. This is one of the war’s objectives, and we’re committed to achieving all of the war’s objectives,” he said in a video statement.
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